Do Mushrooms beget Mushrooms?
Now I've noticed I have a bumper crop of mushrooms. I know that mushrooms like cool and damp and that area of the lawn is probably the wettest part. I went out to pick up doggie doodles today and there are tons of mushrooms. Is this something I need to worry about? Do I have to do something to get rid of them? If I don't will they keep multiplying? Will the "COLD" winter kill them off? |
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| The mushrooms are the flower of the the beneficial lawn fungi that breakdown the organic layer ie grass clipping, mulch up leafs etc. Without this action our soils would eventually become sterile and useless and we would be knee deep in grass clippings. There are no pesticides that I know of that will kill them off. Yes you will probably have them most years in these areas. Growing conditions will determine the magnitude. Winter will kill the flower but not the underlying fungi. Other than improving soil drainage in that area, have no workable suggestions for you. |
| We have tons of them too. And HUGE at that...I try to pull them out but in some spots there are literally hundreds of these tiney looking ones...Are they poisonous to the dogs??? I haven't seen the dogs too interested in them...yet... |
If I were you, Id pick up a book on local fungi and check to see if they are edible or poisonous. We have many varieties where I live, and I make sure to pull up the dangerous ones (Amanitas, mostly...very easy to identify, as they are bright red) and don't worry at all about the edible ones...my dogs happily eat the puffballs and shaggymanes that I don't harvest for us to eat  . |
| I haven't seen any red ones...The ones by me look sort of like pieces of bread...will get a list as you recommend... |
| Generally mushrooms grow along the line of a decaying root underground (any trees nearby?). You can try to changing the pH of your soil to get rid of them. |
| Indeed, mushrooms are the "flowers" or fruiting body on a fungus. The fungus is decomposing some yummy organic matter in the soil......maybe even several feet down. Your rain may have saturated the soil to where some roots are rotting, something is being recycled down there. Improving the drainage would help as it would protect tree/shrub/flower roots......but judging from your wet period, this may be temporary. Or it indicates something big down there is rotting.....often a tree root. In new yards, 'rooms may indicate organic matter worked into the soil went in as "clumps" instead of finely scattered about. Once the organic food is used up, the fungus dies. Drought will put it into "suspended animation" until more moisture shows up. The only way to eliminate the fungus is to dig down and remove what is rotting. Reducing soil moisture may also help. Or just waiting them out and hoping the tree doesn't fall over.......  Actually when we see 'rooms along roots we often see 'rooms on the lower trunk or around a wound.....more in moist months. If we saw the mushroom on the trunk we'd declare the tree a hazard as the fungus would indicate a rotting trunk and urge take down. For you it could be some lawn thatch, misc roots or other misc organic matter down there. No, I would not let the dogs eat them or you eat them. The difference between safe and death is very tiny, more than books show. You learn mushroom hunting from living mushroom experts. Locally ours was iffy......though an author of numerous books, he would not eat mushrooms.  |
| The area where the mushroom are is where a huge tree once was. I know there have to be plenty of underground roots down there. |
| Bingo! Be super kind to the grass above, keep it well aerated (no compaction), keep it fertilized with nitrogen, add organic ammendments such as compost (I'd also add manure if there wasn't a furbaby in residence)........anything to speed along the natural decomp below. Make sure your lawn doesn't get a thick thatch layer that would impede the nutrients traveling down to the monster fungus below.......... |
| When you say "thatch" layer, do you mean a layer of grass clippings on top of the lawn? Our musrooms are also over an old tree whose stump was ground down. Our landscaper told us if we don't grind far enough, we will get mushrooms. However, in my area, if you go down more than a few feet, you hit water I don't allow eating anything outside! |
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